Astrophotography

The full moon rising over Frankfurt/Main, Germany Canon EOS 70D | 1/160s | f/5.6 | ISO-500 | 60mm #astronomy #astrophotography #nature #naturelovers #frankfurt #ffm

Canon EOS 70D | 0,4 sek | ISO-200 | f/10 | 1000/2800 Frames | Schmidt-Cassegrain with 2x Barlow Yesterday I finally had a clear sky and I was able to observe and shoot Mars for the first time since I started astrophotography. It’s great to see this little details on the surface and the small part of the pole. #astronomy #astrophotography #nature #naturelovers #mars @universetoday #universetoday @astro_photography_ #astro_photography_

This sun halo appeared during yesterdays mercury transit. Not a perfect one, but I think the first I photographed. Also a sun dog (parhelion) was visible during the transit. Canon EOS 550D | 1/4000s | f/9.0 | ISO-100 | 10mm I added a short report with some pictures on my website about the transit. Link in my bio. #astronomy #astrophotography #sun #mercurytransit #mercury #sun #nature #naturelovers

Another picture of todays mercury transit. Mercury is the spot on the left side. Canon EOS 70D | 1/320s | f/7.0 | ISO-400 | 1000mm | Newtonian I tried to make a time lapse photo, but after 4.5 hours of 7 hours it got cloudy and I didn’t saw the end of the transit. I will try to make such a photo out of the data I’ve got. It was an amazing event and I can’t wait for the next transit in 3 years, which then will be the last for 13 years. Also on July, 5th 6757 will be a partial sun eclipse simultaneously to a mercury transit. (This would have been a nice birthday present) #astronomy #astrophotography #nature #naturelovers #sun #mercury #mercurytransit #transit

First picture of the Mercury Transit. More will come. Canon EOS 70D | 1/500s | f/7 | ISO-400 |1000mm | Newtonian #astronomy #astrophotography #mercury #mercurytransit #transit #sun #nature #naturelovers

Again my setup, but this time in a special edition, because of the upcoming transit of mercury. This is how I observe and photograph the sun. It's nothing speacial and not the best, but it works. For more details to this setup keep on reading. As you see I use my 5“ Newtonian and not my 10“ Schmidt-Cassegrain, because the focal length of the SC ist too big. I could buy a reducer, but with a larger filter it would get pretty expensive. And this setup works and I’m okay with that. On the tube is a Baader ND5 filter with a selfmade holder of cardboard. The filter just lets 1/100.000 of the sunlight through it. Between camera and telescope has to be a Barlow lens (in my case), because the focus is too deep in the focuser and my camera doesn’t reach it. But the Barlow gets the focus out of the focuser and I can focus with my camera. (So much focus) If I want to fix this, I have to buy a smaller focuser. So because of the Barlow I have again a big focal length and the sun is again to big for my camera sensor. But I just put to pieces of the sun together with Photoshop. Under the Barlow sits a moon filter (ND96) to darken the picture even more. Alternatively a colored filter for different contrasts. Yellow, orange and green are good in that case. I think I will get a little upgrade before the transit of Mercury on May, 9th. I hope there will be good weather on this day. #astronomy #astrophotography #nature #naturelovers #sun #mercury #transit #bresser #telescope

Jupiter with two moon shadows. On the left side is the shadow of Europa and under it is the red spot. In the middle of Jupiter, but not visible on this picture, is Europa itself. On the right side are Io and Io’s shadow. Canon EOS 70D | 1/4s | f/10 | ISO-200 | 300/1500 Frames | 10“ Schmidt-Cassegrain with 2x Barlow I’m happy to have finally captured a double shadow on Jupiter. The two shadows were just 20 minutes together on Jupiter. The seeing was okay, sky was clear, but the air was pretty noisy. #astronomy #astrophotography #nature #naturelovers #jupiter #europa #io #moon #shadow #eclipse #transit #astro_photography_ #universetoday @astro_photography_

The double cluster h and chi Persei (NGC 884 and NGC 869) located in the constellation of Perseus. Together they have an apparent dimension of 1°. NGC 869 has +5.3 mag and NGC has +6.1 mag. On a dark sky you can see this double cluster as a soft fog with the naked eye. Canon EOS 70D | 10x30sec | f/5.6 | ISO-640 | 300mm | 15 Darks | 15 Bias You can find a larger version of this picture on my website. Link in my bio. #astronomy #astrophotography #nature #naturelovers #cluster #stars #universetoday #astro_photography_ @astro_photography_

No real astronomy picture today, but something I am often asked for: my equipment. Or more precisely my telescopes. I always just refer to them with „10“ Schmidt-Cassegrain“ or „5“ Newtonian“. So here they are. For some details keep on reading. In the middle: My larger telescope. It’s a Schmidt-Cassegrain from Meade. It has a diameter of 254mm or 10“ and a focal length of 2500mm. It sits on a azimuthal LX90 mount. Azimuthal mounts (or maybe just mine) are bad for any longer Deep Sky exposures. I would prefer and also will someday buy a equatorial mount. The LX90 has a GoTo function with GPS and an automatic tracking. This means the telescope points automatically to the chosen object and keeps it in sight. On top of this telescope is a piggyback mount to put my DSLR on it. So I can make longer exposures with a smaller focal length. To attach my camera directly to the focuser, I use a T2 ring and a T2 to 1,25“ adapter. That’s also basically all you need for photographing through a telescope. On the right: My smaller telescope from Bresser. It’s a Newtonian with a diameter of 130mm and a focal length of 1000mm. It has an equatorial mount, but no automatic tracking. I’ve got also a solar filter for this telescope, so I can observe and photograph the suns white light. I don’t really use it for other objects than the sun, because it has a too short focal length for planetary imaging and without automatic tracking, Deep Sky also makes no sense. On the left chair is my laptop (a very important instrument for astrophotography next to the telescope and the camera) which I connect with my camera. With this I can take hundreds of pictures with the same settings without even being next to the camera. I also use the laptop to make the videos of planets and the moon, which frames I stack later in post processing. #astronomy #astrophotography #nature #naturelovers #telescope #meade #bresser

Canon EOS 70D | 1/250s | f/10 | ISO-500 | 10“ Schmidt-Cassegrain with 2x Barlow | 20 Pictures Mosaic This is a mosaic of the moon from February, 19th. I used 20 different pictures and put them together. This makes a 400 megapixel picture out of it. I scaled it down to 100 megapixel, because Instagram crashes with 400. I tried to produce this mosaic four weeks ago, but my computer ran out of RAM during processing (though I have 16 GB). Yesterday I’ve got recommended another program for mosaics. Credit for that goes to @j.w.astronomy. Thanks again! #astronomy #astrophotography #nature #naturelovers #moon #moon_of_the_day #universetoday #astro_photography_ @universetoday @astro_photography_ @moon_of_the_day

Canon EOS 550D | 0,5sec | 300/1200 Frames | ISO-200 | f/10 | 10“ Schmidt-Cassegrain with 2x Barlow Jupiter again. This time with the Great Red Spot and without any moons or shadows. As you can see it’s an older picture. How you can see it? Because Jupiter isn’t fully illuminated (on the right side), but if it was were new, it had to be fully illuminated, because Jupiter is in opposition. #astronomy #astrophotography #jupiter #bigredspot #nature #naturelovers #universetoday #astro_photography_ @universetoday @astro_photography_

Canon EOS 70D | 1/6s | 300/1500 Frames | f/10 | ISO-320 | 2500mm | 10“ Schmidt-Cassegrain with 2x Barlow Jupiter with Io on the left side and Callisto on the right throwing its shadow on Jupiter. For the first time since Jupiter is in opposition, I had perfect conditions for planetary imaging. And I knew I was in luck, because Callisto had a transit in front of Jupiter. I saved a lot of data during these 3 hours. Maybe there will be some other good shots. Check out my website for a larger version of this picture. Link in my bio. #astronomy #astrophotography #nature #naturelovers #universetoday #astro_photography_ #jupiter #callisto #io @astro_photography_ @universetoday

Canon EOS 550D | 15 x 15s | f/10 | ISO-800 | 10" Schmidt-Cassegrain | 5 Darks | 5 Bias I finally managed to photograph the core of the Orion Nebula (Messier 42). But because my telescope has a focal length of 2500mm not the hole nebula is in the picture. Conditions: As always bad. Moon was really close and the sky wasn't complete clear. So i didn't get more data than the core of the nebula. But the core looks pretty awesome. #astronomy #astrophotography #astro_photography_ #naturelovers #nature @astro_photography_ @universetoday #universetoday #messier42 #m42 #orion #nebula

Yesterday's 98.6% illuminated moon with the 99.9% illuminated Jupiter on the left side. The visible distance between them was 3°. This are two pictures, because Jupiter and the moon needed different exposure times. Canon EOS 70D | 1/20s & 1/250s | f/5.0 | ISO-400 | 155mm Check out my website for a larger version of this picture. Link in my bio. #moon #astronomy #astrophotography #nature #naturelovers #moon_of_the_day @moon_of_the_day #astro_photography_ @astro_photography_

Canon EOS 70D | 1/4s | ISO-400 | f/10 | 2500mm | 10“ Schmidt-Cassegrain The 66.8% illuminated moon. In the center: Mare Tranquillitatis. It’s a mosaic of 5 pictures. So yesterday the weather report promised me a clear night. I was happy because it was the first (predicted) clear night since weeks where I also got time. So I set up my telescope for cooling it down at sunset (sky was clear), went to eat, came back and it was cloudy. Only the moon, which you see here, was visible through the clouds. Meaning the picture isn’t best quality at all. Conclusion: I hate weather ! #astronomy #astrophotography #moon #nature #naturelovers #moon_of_the_day @moon_of_the_day #astro_photography_ @astro_photography_

This picture is something special because it wasn't made by me but by my father 6 years ago. More specifically, on August 6th 2009 in Valras-Plage, France. It's a 99,4% illuminated moon rising over the Mediterranean Sea. 8°52'35" high. Amazing what you can find out just with date and time. What you don't see on this picture is Jupiter, which was just under the moon. It's only a few pixels big. I hope you like it. Canon PowerShot A650 IS | 1s | f/4.5 | ISO-200 | 37mm #moon #fullmoon #jupiter #moon_of_the_day #astro_photography_ #universetoday #nature #naturelovers

This is my first mosaic of the moon. It consists of just 5 different pictures of the moon, because I didn't knew how much I can use. Next time I'll try more with a bigger magnification. But I think with only 5 pictures and a 96x magnification you get a good result already. What do you guys think? Canon EOS 70D | 5 x 1/320s | f/10 | ISO-320 | 2500mm | 10" Schmidt-Cassegrain Check out my website, if you want to see larger versions of my pictures. Link is in my bio. #moon #astronomy #nature #naturelovers #astro_photography_ #universetoday #moon_of_the_day @astro_photography_ @universetoday @moon_of_the_day